CROWLEY, Aleister.

The Book of The Law [technically called Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI].

Pasadena: Privately issued: The O.T.O. / Church of Thelema, 1938 [1942]. First U.S. Edition. Softcover, small octavo ( 5 x 6 1/2 inches) 50pp. (+ 6pp adverts at rear) Booklet stapled in gilt-stamped blue wrappers, with title and A.'. A.'. sigil gilt stamped on upper wrapper. The First U.S. Edition of "The Book of the Law." The edition was prepared by W. T. Smith directly from the British edition of 1938, although it omits the final three leaves of notices and advertisements, and instead adds a two page notice headed simply "O.T.O." comprising material about the Order extracted from "The Equinox." According to Smith's biographer, Martin P. Starr, the reset text was carefully checked, but in a typical case of overlooking the obvious, they forgot to replace the original publication date on the title page (1938) with the intended publication date October 31, 1942. In a perhaps deliberate acknowledgement of wartime sensitivities, the words "Democracy Dodders" which had been the very first sentence of the fifth chapter the Introduction were omitted. The book was published under the imprint of The Church of Thelema, 1003 S. Orange Grove Avenue, Pasadena California. It is a handsome production, and is one of the few Thelemic publications prepared by a follower of which Crowley is known to have approved. There are some creases across the lower part of the book: clearly it has been flexed in a way that it should not have at some stage. There are also two scorch marks in the bottom margin of p. 5, just showing through on p. 6 (see photograph). At first glance they look like cigarette scorches, but we have seen another copy with similar marks in exactly the same position, so clearly they are an artefact of some mishap in the production process. Otherwise the book actually appears like new, but of course the creasing and scorch marks mean it would just rate at VG. Still a nice, clean copy, of an increasingly scarce edition, priced down because of its problems. Item #67060

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